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First, let me thank everyone for the suggestions on LED suppliers, and links to others who have done similar.

Let me start off with some finished photos.

Power off:

Running Lights:

Brakes Applied:

This is what I came up with.

I bought 2 packs of Alpena Flex LED's, RED, 24" (2 - 12" strips) for $19.99 each. I found them both at Advance Auto Parts, and Autozone. These are weather proof LEDs's sealed inside a thick layer of flexible silicone.

I drilled 3 holes for the wiring to enter the case. The center row is centered both vertically and horizontally between the center lens mounting holes. It has 3 sections (9 LED's total)

The LED strips can be cut ONLY where the scissors are shown, basically in 3 LED sections. The only cut I made and jumpered was for the turns. I use a 6 LED section, made a cut and jumpered another 3 LED section on each side. Make sure when you cut and splice that you keep the polarity (+/-) correct! The reason for the cut was the strip could not make the bend to fit the case in a single section. I covered the exposed solder pads with silicone RTV before installing the lenses. Note: when you have to expose the 2 copper pads to make your solder connections, take your time to remove the silicone so you don't damage the solder pads.

The left and right brake sections are a total of 12 LED's each side.

The LED strips come with 3M double sided tape already installed. I used masking tape to hold them in place, then put the lens in place and adjusted as needed then once a location was found I used the provided double sided tape for final placement. Use rubbing alcohol to clean the case anywhere you are sticking a row of LED's!

I centered this row of 9 LED's (that show through the 4 round lenses) both vertically and horizontally between the original center lens screw holes.

I did all my splicing under the document cover in the lid. I found a screw and a cable clamp to fit the hole already in the base of the case so I could zip tie the cable out of the way as it enters the case. You can see the cord grip installed in the lower right corner. I drilled a few holes in the lid and used zip ties for cable routing.

I use the SW Motech Alu-rack and I chose this location to drill and install the cord grip and route my cable to keep my exposed wiring to the bike minimal in length.

For extra brightness, I added two rows of 9 LEDS inside the center lens as well.

Radio Shack stocks several connectors. As Kimel has pointed out in post #4 below, these "Radio Shack connectors" are not weather proof connectors. I have my connector under the seat, so I have to remove the seat to take off the case. If you put your connector out in the elements, you will need to use a weatherproof connector. A 4 wire trailer connector or similar would work.

Relay I used:

This install was time consuming and more on the difficult side but the work to me was worth it and I am very pleased with the outcome. From start to finish, I probably have about 12 hours in this job, but about a third of that was design and parts finding expeditions.

Registered

For those that might want the connector in the weather, those molex type connectors are decidedly not weather resistant. They actually wick up and hold moisture in my experience. There are lots of weather-resistant connectors out there.

This all started when my boss told me he followed me in to work one day. We start work at 6:30 AM and it is dark for the ride in. I asked him if my reflective vest was bright in the dark. He said yes, what he could see but the trunk blocks most of my vest from the rear. He said "You should light up that trunk!". So I did.

He got behind me this week and gave me a big thumbs up and said I am now quite visible for the night/morning rides. It does give me great peach of mind!

If you add LED lights, they only burn at full brightness. You must add a resistor (or two in my case) to dim them for running lights as well. You can play with different values of resistors to make the dim different brightness. I settled on (2) 750 Ohms because that looked good to me. The relay in the circuit allows the LED's to be switched from running to full bright.

Registered

If you add LED lights, they only burn at full brightness. You must add a resistor (or two in my case) to dim them for running lights as well. You can play with different values of resistors to make the dim different brightness. I settled on (2) 750 Ohms because that looked good to me. The relay in the circuit allows the LED's to be switched from running to full bright.

Registered

I haven't had a lot of electrical experience so this might be a dumb question... what if I just tapped LEDs into the existing brake and signal wires. If they're wired in parallel, there should be no decrease in brightness, however the extra resistance on the signal relays would cause them to flash at a different rate (slower?). Is that correct or am I missing something?

Registered

I haven't had a lot of electrical experience so this might be a dumb question... what if I just tapped LEDs into the existing brake and signal wires. If they're wired in parallel, there should be no decrease in brightness, however the extra resistance on the signal relays would cause them to flash at a different rate (slower?). Is that correct or am I missing something?

Brakes: Scenario 1 - If you tap direct (to the BLUE wire "switched" +12V) and do not use the relay/resistors, the added LED's will be in one of 2 states - OFF (while running) or ON (Full bright when Braking) unlike your factory brake lights. Your OEM tail lights are wired using resistors to dim them so you have running lights before applying the brakes. If you choose to skip the relay/resistors, you will have no added lights while the engine is running until you apply the brake.

Brakes: Scenario 2 - If you tap direct (to the RED wire "always hot when bike is running" +12V) and do not use the relay/resistors, the added LED's will always be on full brightness while running and braking both. Scenario 2 is a bad idea and may be illegal as you will not switch to a brighter brake light.

Brakes: Scenario 3 - If you connect to BOTH the RED & BLUE wires, (essentially tie them together, you would have no more OEM running lights and your brake lights would be on 100% and never turn off. Scenario 3 IS NOT AN OPTION.

Turn Signals: Turn signals in my setup are wired as you suggest. I just tapped into the existing (switched +12V). Those LED's are in two states - Full bright or Off. I see no visible difference in flash rate.

I hope this answered your questions. If not, post up again, I will be glad to help! :thumb:

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